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Living in a small town. Wow!

His sister lives a few houses down from us, cousin few houses up--on the same street. Folks about 5 min away on the farm. Aunts, uncles....around 30 people within a 5 min radius.

I will admit that I haven't particularly loved living here because it seems like it's all about the family you're from. Being that I'm an import, I've found myself met with a lot of leery "now, WHICH family are you with?" questions.

But today, I actually got a good chuckle out of small town life.

My dog had some pretty major surgery last week and isn't eating well. Vet told me to try a combo of canned foods. So I headed over to Family Farm and Home and procured a variety of brands. 12 cans. At the register, the cashier asked "What kind of dog do you have?" I answered "sick and expensive!"

We were chit chatting and I explained that I was supposed to move Sat, then tomorrow, but that it was being pushed back a day now based on his status. She asked, "Do you live on X road?"

"Yes"

"Which dog is it? The lab or the poodle????" she asked very concernedly.

She knows my dogs. LOL Her folks live on my street.

Then I went to the combo grocery/hardware store. Needed some switches and covers so I can wire up some things before our house shows tomorrow. Lady helping me chatted me up. Finally we get to "Do you live on X road?"

"Yes"

"We're neighbors! I live at the end of the street. Which dog is sick, the lab or the poodle?"

"Lab"

"OMG! I love him. I pet him every day when I walk. I love watching him swim in the river when you walk him down to the park by our house. You let me know if I can help with anything!"

Holy crap! These people, whom I do not know, know my DOGS.

THAT is small town life, eh? And no one bothered to ask me which family I belonged to for a change.

Maybe I'm going to miss this place after all!

A good horseman doesn't have to tell anyone...the horse already knows.

I grew up in a town like that. You couldn't breathe wrong without someone getting in touch with your parents about it. My father was on the school board, the library board, the planning and zoning commission, the water department board, etc. Librarians would comment about my trends in reading selections, the neighbors knew what time we walked the dog and who usually walked him on which days, the route we took, what time someone usually watered the garden, what time my brother came home from his night job and who he was dating at any given time, where we shopped for groceries and clothing, and so forth. If someone moved in you sent over food and then invited them over for cake and coffee. I'm surprised that hasn't happened to you yet. The neighbors must be slipping!

You just learn to dress appropriately and keep your clothes neat, draw your drapes and close your doors, and your keep your manners on at all times. Pretty soon, you stop doing things wrong in public.

ETA: I now live in a much more anonymous environment, and love it!

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." Albert Einstein

I live in a place like that and I swear that my DH is related to half of the county. Everyone knows everyone and a trip to the grocery takes forever because you have to chat with all the relatives and friends you run into. I love it though and I'd never trade for "city" life, not for an instant!

“While the rest of the species is descended from apes, redheads are descended from cats.” Mark Twain

Yep. My dh works for the city, and my girls are forever griping that they can't go anywhere without their daddy getting a phone call, lol. He was with the electric division for a long time, so when our 2 oldest started driving legally, the crews he worked with would see them and call him to say Jen was speeding or Katie had someone with her, or what was Ginger doing on that side of town... I only got ill with them one time when one called him to say he had seen me with another man at a restaurant. Well,,, yeah, I was having lunch with an old boyfriend from 26 agod, but I had called my dh first to ask him if he minded and told him where we were going. He was fine with it. The guys still razz me about it.

It can be very helpful though, and sweet. We had an issue with a friend and her trailer on the side of the road. One of the guys saw us, called my dh and asked if he could help (thinking Bo was with me). When he found out Bo was not with us, he turned around to us.

http://community.webshots.com/album/548368465RfewoU[/url]

She may not have changed the stars from their courses, but she loved a good man, and she rode good horses….author unknown

Hehehehe yeah I was really scared at first when coworkers would ask where I lived, and a vague direction wasn't sufficient. And even the street name wasn't close enough for them. They would ask which HOUSE on this eight mile long road was mine.
"ahh, you have all the dogs" and "nice fence!" And "that's a big house for two people" were all responses I got, plus declarations that their mama's friend/second cousin/elementary school teacher/brother's second wife lives X houses away. (And my house really isn't that big for two people! But the only comparable houses on our road do house five or more people, in two bedrooms....)

Heck other people knew about a tree that had fallen in the back of our property before we did!

It's a little disconcerting, but kinda nice that people are looking out for us (err spying on us, nicely)

You learn things about yourself you didn't even know you did, lmao... My mother was the postmaster in our *village* of 300... Yeeeaaaahhhh, I didn't get up to much without her knowing! Which is why I hang out in the village ten miles west!!!

I live in a town like that, and I just LOVE it! I moved there from a much bigger town, mostly because the schools here close for fair (because there's so many in 4H that it costs more to keep the schools open to empty classrooms) AND the seniors drive their tractors in on senior day! I mean, really...small town life is AWESOME!

“Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of Solitaire. It is a grand passion.” ~Emerson

I live in a rural area and I don't know people so much as animals. Someone called and left a message about finding a paint horse. I told them where the only paint I knew of lives. When I met old timers and they ask where I live I tell them the old Wolf place. They know and ask if I'm related to the people from Houston who bought it (almost 40 yr ago! LOL). We are getting a lot of new people around because of Austin. My sister teaches at one of the schools and all the kids know her. Some are even smart enough to put it together that I'm her sister because "YOU look JUST like her" (minus 40 lbs and 6 inches! LOL but hair and face is similar).

In a town this size, there's no place to hide
Everywhere you go you meet someone you know
You can't steal a kiss in a place like this
How the rumors do fly in a town this size
In a smokey bar in the backseat of your car
In your own little house someone's sure to find you out
What you do and what you think
What you eat and what you drink
If you smoke a cigarette they'll be talkin' about your breath

In a town this size, there's no place to hide
Everywhere you go you meet someone you know
You can't steal a kiss in a place like this

Oh, I had a fight with my girlfriend last night
Before the moon went down it was all over town
How he made me cry how I said goodbye
If it's true or not doesn't seem to count alot

In a town this size, there's no place to hide
Everywhere you go you meet someone you know
You can't steal a kiss in a place like this
How the rumors do fly in a town this size
In a town this size in a town this size

I am constantly amazed at the whole who knows who stuff in our area. We have learned that a few very carefully dropped names can make a slightly stand offish person suddenly become our friend. In this 'small town' area it is ALL about who you know. I am blessed to have had some 'local' friends over here from before we moved and that has helped a lot with getting us excepted.

When I was a child we lived and a good sized city but I had several cousins that lived near our part of town, so when I went anywhere (grocery store, McD's) there was always a chance that I would see a relative. My friends thought that was SO WEIRD. Living in a small town is almost like that again. We rarely make a grocery run that we don't see someone we know.

Haha our town is pretty small and the ranch is pretty well known and more than once someone has recognized me and said "Oh, you live over there with all them horses..."

My dog is also pretty famous for a small town. He is a ham and loves people so I get on facebook all the time and check the ranch's facebook and see pics of him (and my other dogs). It actually freaks me out at times that someone may steal him

Yep! I went down to the country market a mile down the road one day and I had people I've never even met, they knew who I was tho, they were asking me about the traffic accident that happened in front of my house that morning. Word travels fast!

About the only time losing is more fun than winning is when you're fighting temptation.
-- Tom Wilson, actor & comedian

Hell... I live in Wellington (FL)... let's just say that it's as bad as any small town out there!
Can't go anywhere without running into a minimum of 5 people I know. Gym, grocery store, mall... doesn't matter! Even the gas station! And it's that time of the year again where I'm like: "Oh God... I should really learn NOT to go grocery shopping after I just rode 2 horses and worked out... I look like HELL and no sponsor wants to run into me looking like that... "
Too bad I'll keep on doing it though

Yeah, I work at the feedstore in a town like that! I know everyone's dogs and where they got it and am constantly match-making between dogs at the shelter (that we donate all the feed to) and people looking for dogs... they know my parents and the place I live and oh yes, I do own the pretty white horse and old brown mare that get loose and roam at the next house over!

I love it-we just cashed out everything to move back here to my hometown...